Estimated plant richness pattern across northwest South America provides similar support for the species-energy and spatial heterogeneity hypotheses

Explaining geographic variation in plant species richness at broad spatial scales has long been a major challenge. Many hypotheses have been proposed during the last 200 yr, but recent work has focused on a few major alternatives. Among these, two hypotheses contend that plant species richness reflects 1) variation in energy and water availability among sampling units (the species-energy hypothesis) and 2) habitat and topographic heterogeneity within sampling units (the spatial heterogeneity hypothesis). We used a large botanical database and regression models to simultaneously confront the predictions from both hypotheses against an estimate of vascular plant richness across northwest South America. This estimate provided similar support for both hypotheses, a result that may be seen as contrasting with the notion that variation in energy and water availability among sampling units is the main determinant of plant species richness. We discuss potential explanations for this apparent discrepancy. Regression models that incorporated the relative contributions of both hypotheses predicted that the highest plant species richness in northwest South America is found in topographically complex areas. In contrast to several of the most recent mapping efforts, lowland Amazonia was predicted to be a plant richness trough in the study region. We suggest that diverging portrayals of plant richness across northwest South America result from differences in estimates of the relative importance of the species-energy and the spatial heterogeneity hypotheses.     

东北地区蒙古栎木生大型真菌物种多样性和区系特征

木生大型真菌作为木材的分解者,在维持生态系统的生物地球化学循环中起着重要的作用。蒙古栎Quercus mongolica是我国东北地区主要的成林树种之一。为厘清以蒙古栎为生长基质的木生大型真菌物种组成和区系特征,本文对我国东北地区蒙古栎上的木生大型真菌物种组成、生态习性和区系特征进行比较分析。经调查共发现蒙古栎上木生大型真菌11目39科110属193种,其中优势科为多孔菌科Polyporaceae、锈革孔菌科Hymenochaetaceae、拟层孔菌科Fomitopsidaceae、皱孔菌科Meruliaceae、斯氏菇科Steccherinaceae和木耳科Auriculariaceae,优势科的物种数占比56.99%。优势属为多孔菌属Polyporus、栓孔菌属Trametes、锈革菌属Hymenochaete、多年卧孔菌属Perenniporia和韧革菌属Stereum,优势属的物种占总物种数的15.03%。在腐朽类型方面,89.64%的木生大型真菌能够引起木材的白色腐朽,比例远远高于褐色腐朽;生长在倒木上的木生大型真菌种类最多,生长在基部的种类最少。按照区系组成,可划分为温带分布种(35.75%)、温带-亚热带分布种(33.16%)、寒带-温带分布种(12.95%)和世界广布种(6.22%)等7类,具有明显的温带区系特征。     

物种多样性地理格局的能量假说

物种多样性地理分布格局及其成因是生物地理学和宏观生态学研究的核心问题之一。为了解释物种多样性的分布格局, 人们提出了多种假说, 其中讨论最多的是能量假说。该假说认为, 物种多样性的变化受能量控制。根据能量的不同形式及其对物种多样性的影响机制, 能量假说包括以下几种形式: 生产力假说(productivity hypothesis)、水分—能量动态假说(water–energy dynamic hypothesis)、环境能量假说(ambient energy hypothesis)、寒冷忍耐假说(freezing tolerance hypothesis)以及生态学代谢假说(metabolic theory of ecology, MTE)。本文系统介绍了每种能量假说的含义、所使用的能量形式及表征变量, 以及对物种多样性的影响机制, 并对不同形式的能量假说进行了比较, 在此基础上, 分析了每种能量假说的优点和缺点以及各自面临的问题。     

Species richness in tropical fresh waters of Australia

General ecological expectations about the relationship between latitude and species richness are that at low latitudes (the tropics) species richness is greater than at higher latitudes (temperate and polar regions). Recent work suggests that this may not be the case for several habitat types and biological groups in Australia. Results are conflicting: on present evidence (admittedly sparse) it appears that in Australian tropical fresh waters species richness is generally depressed in zooplankton and littoral microfaunal communities, but not in macroinvertebrate communities in typical streams and in fish communities (and perhaps also in amphibian and reptile communities). The situation is indeterminate for tropical phytoplankton and macrophyte communities.     

Species richness and niche space for temperate and tropical folivores

We measured structural and chemical traits of the leaves of native, broad-leaved trees in two temperate localities [southern Ontario, Canada (34 species), and Missouri (36 species)] and one tropical locality [central Panama (samples of 21 and 23 species)] to test the hypothesis that the greater diversity of tree species and herbivore species in the tropics is associated with greater resource niche space for herbivores. Variables were leaf toughness, water content, dry mass per unit area, several structural and nutritional carbohydrates, common mineral elements, including nitrogen and phosphorus, and several defensive compounds, including tannins and alkaloids. The four samples were almost fully separable by discriminant analysis on the basis of these leaf traits. Variance in log-transformed trait values among species was lowest in the most northern sample, but did not differ significantly between Missouri and Panama. Niche space, estimated as the square root of the total variance in the log-transformed variables within each locality, varied approximately as Panama = 1, Missouri = 0.8, Ontario = 0.5. Although niche space decreases towards higher latitudes, the change does not match the ca. sixfold decrease in tree species richness or the ca. fourfold decrease in Lepidopteran species richness over the latitude range of our samples. Accordingly, tropical folivore diversity is associated with greater resource niche overlap, greater niche specialization, and/or more completely filled niches, or with variation in niche dimensions not measured in this study.     

中国海南省木生大型真菌多样性研究

本研究于2010至2021年对海南省各自然保护区、森林公园和植物园内的木生大型真菌进行了调查,共采集标本2 212份,经形态和分子系统研究,发现木生大型真菌702个种,根据最新分类系统隶属于19个目、68个科、256个属。其中多孔菌科、锈革菌科、炭角菌科、炭团菌科和丝齿菌科等16个科为优势科,共529个种,约占总数的75%;炭角菌属、锈革菌属、木层孔菌属、环纹炭团菌属、褐孔菌属、多年卧孔菌属、栓菌属和灵芝菌属等32个属为优势属,共357个种,约占总数的51%。此外,共有3个新属和92个新种是本研究根据采自海南省的模式标本发现发表的。这些物种中22种为食用菌,71种是药用菌,6种是有毒菌类。     

Species traits and the form of individual species-energy relationships

Environmental energy availability explains much of the spatial variation in species richness at regional scales. While numerous mechanisms that may drive such total species-energy relationships have been identified, knowledge of their relative contributions is scant. Here, we adopt a novel approach to identify these drivers that exploits the composite nature of species richness, i.e. its summation from individual species distributions. We construct individual species-energy relationships (ISERs) for each species in the British breeding avifauna using both solar (temperature) and productive energy metrics (normalized difference vegetation index) as measures of environmental energy availability. We use the slopes of these relationships and the resultant change in deviance, relative to a null model, as measures of their strength and use them as response variables in multiple regressions that use ecological traits as predictors. The commonest species exhibit the strongest ISERs, which is counter to the prediction derived from the more individuals hypothesis. There is no evidence that predatory species have stronger ISERs, which is incompatible with the suggestion that high levels of energy availability increase the length of the food chain allowing larger numbers of predators to exist. We find some evidence that species with narrow niche breadths have stronger ISERs, thus providing one of the few pieces of supportive evidence that high-energy availability promotes species richness by increasing the occurrence of specialist species that use a narrow range of resources.     

Species richness increases the resilience of wetland plant communities in a tropical floodplain

In the last two decades, the relationship between diversity and stability/ecosystem functioning has been widely discussed and has become a central issue in ecology. Here, we assessed the relationship between wetland plant diversity and community resilience after a disturbance. Our study area was located in the Upper Paraná River floodplain (Brazil). An experiment was carried out in situ (18 1 m × 1 m plots with richness varying from 1 to 18 species). In each plot, we recorded the number of species, total per cent vegetation cover and per cent age cover of each species. The above‐ground biomass of wetland plants was removed, simulating a disturbance by animal trampling or an extreme flood. The recovery of vegetation was monitored over 3 months. According to a linear regression, the recovery of wetland plants was positively correlated with diversity. Comparisons with plots containing monocultures of one of the dominant species (Polygonum stelligerum) suggested that this species did not overyield in mixed cultures. Thus, our experiments indicate that the higher resilience in richer plots after a disturbance is mainly due to the fact that species have different resource use requirements (complementarity effect) and not due to the presence of a single, more productive species. Our experiment carried out in a more real condition (in situ) showed that biodiversity is important to wetland functioning and stability, paralleling the results obtained in laboratory and mesocosms experiments. These results also suggest that the loss of plant diversity in our study area could compromise community recovery following strong disturbances.     

Species associations during the succession of wood-inhabiting fungal communities

We studied fungal succession in decaying wood by compiling time-series data of fruit body observations. We tested the hypothesis that the presence of a primary species affects the probability of a succeeding species occurring later on the same log. Significant associations were detected for 15 species pairs; these were consistent with earlier findings on co-occurrence patterns in single time surveys. We used enrichment analysis to test if species with particular life-history attributes were more often associated with the occurrence of a succeeding species, or vice versa. White rot fungi and fungi abundant as mycelia were more often associated with the occurrence of succeeding species, compared to brown rot fungi and species with low mycelial abundance. Our results indicate that certain primary species cause priority effects and non-random co-occurrence patterns in the field. These successional patterns are likely to be connected both with substrate modification and species interactions.     

北京地区大型真菌多样性分析

为明确北京地区大型真菌资源状况,以中国科学院菌物标本馆馆藏的京区标本和本研究组采自该地区的标本为材料,结合已报道的文献资料,经过对定名标本的物种名称进行系统整理,得到北京地区大型真菌记录867种,隶属于2门20目72科281属,其中食用菌294种,药用菌169种（包含食用兼药用菌69种）,毒菌56种。在全部大型真菌中,蘑菇科Agaricaceae、多孔菌科Polyporaceae、口蘑科Tricholomataceae和红菇科Russulaceae等24科拥有的物种占总物种数量的77.28%,这些科在该地区占有主导地位;红菇属Russula、蘑菇属Agaricus和丝盖伞属Inocybe等50个属的物种占总物种数量的60.21%,具有相对优势。大型真菌区系分布分析的结果表明,北京地区已发现的大型真菌主要为世界广泛分布的属。物种丰富度分析表明采自门头沟区的大型真菌的标本数和物种丰度最高,最能代表北京地区大型真菌物种的多样性;其他地区采集的标本数量显著减少,而且物种数和物种丰度均明显降低;特别是城区和近郊地区,由于适宜栖息地的丧失,大型真菌更是少见。     

北京小西山大型真菌多样性研究

为明确北京小西山大型真菌多样性现状,为该区森林生态系统经营提供数据支持和依据,本研究采用野外调查和文献查询相结合的方法进行大型真菌多样性研究。共采集小西山大型真菌共2门5纲10目33科65属148种。大型真菌主要优势科有6个,依次为白蘑科(Tricholomataceae)、蘑菇科(Agaricaceae)、多孔菌科(Polyporaceae)、鬼伞科(Psathyrellaceae)、红菇科(Russula)、牛肝菌科(Boletaceae),共包括99个种,约占总种数的36.5%。现有大型真菌生态习性多样,木生、土生和共生类型均有分布,尤以木生和土生真菌为多。区系分布以世界广布属和温带分布属为主,极少其他成分。分布特征与栎类、油松等为代表的典型林分类型及海拔密切相关。研究结果表明真菌生物多样性调查及其保护、利用应与森林经营相结合,以森林生态系统经营的理念为指导,从林分类型、立地条件、人为干扰特征与大型真菌的关联性方面开展定量研究,为森林的可持续经营提供了宝贵的数据基础和研究思路。     

Species richness of Colorado riparian vegetation

Abstract. The probable causes of spatial variation in the diversity of plant communities on a global and local scale have been widely investigated, but the regional scale has received little attention. It remains unclear how disturbance affects diversity in wetlands andriparian vegetation. This study examines the hypothesis that regional variation in the richness of riparian wetlands is related to variation in macro-environment and flood potential. Vascular plant species richness was sampled in 0.1 ha plots at 115 riparian sites scattered over a 300 km length of the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in western Colorado, USA. The relationship between macro-environmental variables (e.g. drainage basin area), disturbance indicators, and species richness was analyzed using correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. Total richness varied between 20 and 87 species (average 50.6) per 0.1 ha, and was highest in subalpine riparian forests from 2600–3650 m a.s.l. (57.8 species / 0.1 ha). Tree and shrub richness were highest in lower elevation, larger drainage basins, forb and graminoid richness were highest in higher elevation, smaller drainage basins. These opposing trends resulted in no net trend in total richness with elevation. Regression models for total richness were poor, suggesting that other variables must be important. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis and other single-factor hypotheses are not supported as explanations of the regional pattern of variation in richness.     

雾灵山国家级自然保护区大型真菌物种多样性

大型真菌在维持生态系统稳定和为人类提供经济价值方面都具有重要作用, 本文对雾灵山国家级自然保护区中的大型真菌资源进行了详细调查, 为该保护区大型真菌资源开发和利用提供基础资料。作者于2019‒2020年采用样线法和随机踏查法对该保护区大型真菌物种资源多样性进行了初步调查和评估, 共采集大型真菌标本1,132份。结合形态学和ITS序列证据进行了鉴定, 并通过查阅相关文献资料对该保护区大型真菌物种资源价值进行了评价。结果表明: 雾灵山国家级自然保护区共有236种大型真菌, 隶属于2门6纲18目56科107属, 其中15种属于子囊菌门, 221种属于担子菌门。为方便统计, 将大于等于10个种的科定为优势科, 大于等于5个种的属定为优势属。其中优势科有红菇科、蘑菇科、多孔菌科和丝膜菌科, 每个科所包含的种数分别占总种数的8.90%、7.20%、5.93%和4.24%, 共计62种。优势属有红菇属(Russula)、蘑菇属(Agaricus)、鹅膏菌属(Amanita)、丝膜菌属(Cortinarius)、马勃属(Lycoperdon)、小皮伞属(Marasmius)等11个属, 共包含79个种, 占总种数的33.48%。对大型真菌的资源价值评价的结果显示, 保护区内共有食用菌66种、药用菌35种、有毒菌36种和食药兼用菌26种。研究结果表明, 雾灵山国家级自然保护区大型真菌资源丰富, 优势科和优势属中最为丰富的分别是红菇科和红菇属(Russula), 具有经济价值的菌达127种, 为食用菌的引种驯化、药用菌开发利用亦或有毒菌鉴别提供了丰富资源。     

黄山大型真菌的物种多样性

安徽黄山属于黄山-怀玉山生物多样性保护优先区域,孕育了极为丰富的生物资源。为了解该区的大型真菌物种多样性,2018-2020年对该区的大型真菌展开了野外调查和标本采集,通过分子生物学方法及子实体形态特征检索比较对获得的标本进行鉴定,并对该区的物种组成、属级地理区系成分、经济真菌和特有成分等进行了统计分析。该地区共发现大型真菌421种,隶属于9纲19目72科200属,其中包含食用菌68种,药用菌31种,毒菌39种,特有种66种。优势科有牛肝菌科Boletaceae、鹅膏科Amanitaceae、红菇科Russulaceae、多孔菌科Polyporaceae、蘑菇科Agaricaceae、小皮伞科Marasmiaceae、光茸菌科Omphalotaceae、球盖菇科Strophariaceae、粉褶菌科Entolomataceae和口蘑科Tricholomataceae 10科,优势属为鹅膏属Amanita、乳菇属Lactarius、蘑菇属Agaricus、金牛肝菌属Aureoboletus、红菇属Russula、粉褶菌属Entoloma、小皮伞属Marasmius、小菇属Mycena、裸脚伞属Gymnopus、粉孢牛肝菌属Tylopilus、栓孔菌属Trametes、丝膜菌属Cortinarius、灵芝属Ganoderma和多汁乳菇属Lactifluus 14属。对黄山大型真菌属级地理成分分析发现该区大型真菌的区系地理成分可分为9类,主要以世界广布成分为主(66.5%),其次是北温带成分(15.5%)和泛热带成分(10.5%)。本研究表明黄山的大型真菌具有丰富的物种多样性,其中食用菌资源较为丰富,主要为世界广布成分,同时也具有较高的特异性。     

Species richness of gall-forming insects in a tropical rain forest: correlations with plant diversity and soil fertility

We tested two hypotheses to explain changes in species richness ofgall-forming insects. The first hypothesis proposes that gall-forming insectspecies richness increases as more potential host–plant species areavailable. The second hypothesis implies that soil fertility affects plantcolonization by gall-forming insects. Seven sites, representing strongdifferences in vegetation and soil were chosen at the Lacandona tropical rainforest region, Chiapas, Mexico. Overall, we found 1522 individual plantsbelonging to 340 different plant species. From this, we found gall-forminginsects on 737 (43.9%) plants and on 74 (22%) of total plant species. We found asignificant negative correlation between gall-forming insect species richnessand species richness of plants, which does not support the hypothesis that plantspecies richness is an important factor in generating the radiation ofgall-forming insects. Using phosphorus as an indicator of soil fertility, wefound the lowest number of plants with gall-forming insects and the smallestgall-forming insect load per individual plant in the more fertile soil(alluvial). In contrast, the highest number of plants with galls and the highestgall-forming insect load per plant were found at a savanna-like vegetationsite, where the poorest soil was recorded. These results did not support thesoil fertility hypothesis in terms of species richness, but did with respect toabundance of plants with galls.     

Species richness of Protozoa in Japanese lakes

The protozoan fauna and species richness in the pelagic zone of 15 Japanese lakes were investigated in 1996 using polyurethane foam (PF) substrates. The most common species were flagellates, such as Cryptomonas erosa, Oikomonas termo, and Pleuromonas jaculans. Cinetochilum margaritaceum and Actinophrys sol were the most common species of the Ciliata and Sarcodina, respectively. The similarity of species occurrence was calculated from presence/absence data, but this revealed no clear trend with respect to the influence of lake properties such as trophic state, surface area, or mean depth. The occurrence pattern of Protozoa was most similar in L. Chuzenji and L. Biwa (north basin), two oligomesotrophic natural lakes. Log species richness was positively correlated with log total phosphorus (r = 0.54, P < 0.05) and negatively with log mean depth (r = −0.58, P < 0.05). The diversity index (Margalef's formula), highly correlated with the total species number (r = 0.85, P < 0.01), was negatively correlated with log lake area (r = −0.71, P < 0.01). The logarithm of Phytomastigophora number was positively correlated with log total nitrogen (r = 0.53, P < 0.05), and the logarithm of Ciliata number was negatively correlated with log lake area (r = −0.55, P < 0.05). The species richness of Protozoa on PF substrates was determined by both the nutrient status of the lake and the distance from the location of the suspended PF substrate to the lake bottom or shore. Received: September 25, 1999 / Accepted: January 6, 2000     

Species richness and regional distribution of myrmecophilous beetles

Four major hypotheses have been put forward to explain local species richness of commensal or parasitic species. The resource distribution hypothesis predicts that regionally widespread host species are able to support higher local species richness of commensals or parasites. On the other hand, the resource size hypothesis predicts that larger hosts can support more species than smaller hosts, and comparably, the resource abundance hypothesis predicts that hosts that offer more resources are able to support more species. Finally, the resource concentration hypothesis predicts that hosts that occur in high-density patches support higher species richness. In this study, we tested the first three of the above hypotheses with myrmecophilous beetles and their host ants. In addition to species richness of myrmecophilous beetles, we also applied the above hypotheses to explain the distribution of the beetles. Our data are exclusively based on an extensive literature survey. Myrmecophilous beetles live in naturally fragmented environments composed of host ant colonies and they are exclusively dependent on ants. We found that the distribution of the host ants and the colony size of the host ants had a positive effect on both the species richness and the distribution of myrmecophilous beetles. In the same way, we found that myrmecophilous beetle species that are generalists, i.e. have more than one host ant species, and thus have more abundant resources, were more widely distributed than specialist species. Thus, we found support for the hypothesis that resource distribution, resource size and resource abundance have an effect on species richness and on the distribution of species.